Brann, Batchelor propel Rams

Ben Brann went the distance and Austin Batchelor went yard, and that’s about all Greene Central coach Scott Jones had to be happy about.

And his team won.

Ryan Herman / Sports Editor

Ben Brann went the distance and Austin Batchelor went yard, and that’s about all Greene Central coach Scott Jones had to be happy about.

And his team won.

Brann scattered two hits and fanned 10 in a complete game and Batchelor’s three-run blast in the third inning covered up an offense that failed to capitalize on multiple occasions as the Rams knocked off Kinston, 6-1, at Viking Field on Tuesday.

Greene Central had eight hits but left eight stranded, including going 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position until Batchelor sent a fastball from Taishu McLawhorn over the fence in left to break the Eastern Plains 2A Conference contest open with one out in the third.

“I thought we were flat tonight,” Jones said. “The other night (in a 4-3 loss) against Tarboro, we played our hearts out, we played tough, and tonight, for some reason, we came out flat.

“From the time we got off the bus we were flat. … We’re happy with the win, but we’re disappointed in our effort.”

Brann led off the third with a walk then was moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Chad Murphy. Kevin Ormond got on a batter later when he was hit with a McLawhorn offering, then Batchelor, a junior lefty who doubles as the starting quarterback for the football team, sent a line shot to left that no one was getting to.

That made it 5-0 in favor of the Rams (3-2, 2-1), and Jones thought it may fire up his team.

But it didn’t.

A lineup still searching for some bats to lead it had nine reach base after the homer, and it got only one run out of it — an RBI double by Murphy that scored Brann in the fifth.

“We’re still searching for our lineup,” said Jones, who said his team has used “four different” lineups thus far. “I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but we just came out flat from the get-go.

“(The home run) did give us a little lift, but it didn’t last long. … We’ve got to get tougher. We left a lot of runners in scoring position, and we hadn’t come through the clutch.”

As the Rams were busy perplexing their head coach with their offense, his starter was busy making light work of his opponent.

Brann, a left-handed senior, didn’t allow a hit through 3 1/3 innings, and would have had a perfect game until then had Sam McLawhorn not reached on a two-out error in the second.

Kinston junior Will Deters gave the Vikings (2-6, 0-3) their first hit of the night with a one-out single in the fourth, then singled again in the sixth to account for his team’s only hits.

Senior Damien Williams scored Kinston’s only run after his walk led to an RBI fielder’s choice by McLawhorn in the sixth.

McLawhorn gave up five earned runs on three hits and two walks in the loss.

“I think we didn’t put ourselves in a good position early, and it came back to bite us a little bit,” Vikings second-year coach Michael Ellsworth said. “I think the home run was a result of what happened before it, and plays and things that we could have done to improve our chances that we can control that weren’t quite there for us tonight.”

Brann went 2-for-2 and scored three runs while Chandler Barrow, Mason Head, James Head and Austin Mooring each singled for the Rams.

Williams pitched 2 2/3 innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits with four strikeouts. Robert Blake pitched two scoreless innings to finish it out for Kinston.

Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.